Work From Home has changed many things and fortunes and here is one aspect of it. Hyderabad is not the only city affected. Other cities with high concentration of IT establishments are equally affected. Pune, my home city is as badly affected as are Mumbai and Bengaluru.
It is not only homes that have seen loss of tenants. Businesses too have found that it is more economical to operate in a WFH system. They are giving up office space all over India as this report shows.
Here is another report about one of India’s largest IT companies that gives a clear indication of what lies ahead.
I personally know of some youngsters who have moved back with their parents in other parts of the country to work from home and save on rent. Employers too are happy with this option as WFH also gets more man-hours per employee than before.
A major change due to this one single development of WFH is the reduction in traffic in the cities most impacted like Pune for instance. Parking space is readily available as is commuting time for others. Peak hour traffic is so low that it does not look like peak hour at all.
These two factors alone should improve the quality of air in our cities and reduce fuel consumption which in turn will impact the automobile industry all over the world.
Domestic consumption is likely to stay at current levels where people have learned to do with less and this is likely to affect consumption and therefore production and therefore employment. Footfalls in Malls and Cinema Theaters are reduced and DTH is rapidly taking over entertainment which in turn affects traffic and related consumption patterns.
So, some industries will scale down while others will scale up and quite which will become clearer as we go along.
There are many other factors that will come into play as the Covid impact lessens and those will become evident as we move further into the year and 2021.
The most significant change will be in our lifestyles which will never again be what they used to be pre pandemic times.
This is my take on this week’s Friday 6 On 1 blog post topic. The other five bloggers who write on the same topic every Friday are Sanjana, Padmum, Raju, Shackman and Conrad. This week’s topic was suggested by me. Please do go over to their respective blogs to see what they have to say on the topic. Thank you.
Your culture may be leaving clearer patterns of development and change than ours is. To put it simply, due to bad and incompetent leadership our culture is too turbulent and chaotic to define a normal other than turbulent and chaotic.
Conrad recently posted..The New Normal
We have our share of problems Conrad but, there are some indications of the direction that our lives will take post Covid that I have tried to address.
Well said. But I ask, what leadership? Not too many people who I look up to. They seem to be all clay, not just the feet.
srinivas C recently posted..Hello world!
I have speculated how inner cities will look in this new normal. All these deserted skyscrapers. Will a new normal revamp them for the homeless and destitute?
Interesting times indeed.
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WWW
I expect that prices will fall to levels that will persuade many people to buy homes but, that will create other problems like for the landlords who currently let out their properties. The real estate business will see that most upheaval in the near future.
This is another juncture in life when there is a churning…like the Manthan of our tradition. Human beings need to be shaken up. Just think about the 60’s and the hippy culture. It was shocking for us staid people. Today an aging hippy looks sad…similarly the punk. Anybody can do what they want. Gay partnerships are not looked askance nor or abortions, surrogacy or opting to be childless or not wanting to get married…we are truly blasé about all this. in fact nothing seems to shock us or make us think that it is an aberration…We shrug it away saying, “C’est la vie!!”
I agree entirely that this is another manthan for us. Quite how it all pans out in the next few years will be interesting to watch.
A bit tepid, by your standards, aye? Good, it will get better in the next post.
I am surprised at your observation Srinivas. Why do you think that it is tepid? I will be very interested to know.
Maybe, this is because I’ve been reading too much about the ‘new’ normal, so a bit bored. I found your post unremarkable. I was hoping for a more incisive commentary. But, my comment wasn’t constructive;
So: Maybe another post, how do you think people will now interact in office; will human relations be sustained/improved/worsened; what can we do about it? Do we make friends? The reason I’m concerned is to do with narrowing range of topics/language and experiences, or something you can see that others haven’t noticed.
I know I am offering a sticky wicket! But it is yours to bat.
srinivas C recently posted..Hello world!
I understand where you are coming from and gladly accept your challenge of the sticky wicket. I will start working on the post and publish it soon.
an example of where rent and rentals have gone down and more available is in our big tourist towns, Queenstown – relied a huge amount of travellers from other countries who would rent spaces and stay and work – most have gone back to their homelands. And the houses/flats remain empty with landlords now having to charge realistic rents.
And there are more companies opting for WFH which means there are probably multistory blocks devoid of people in offices or big companies realising they don’t need 10 story building. I don’t know enough about the logistics of IT and similar.
Many small retail businesses have shut up shop and just about every 10 more block of shops has empty space and To Lease signs up…I guess many were living on a tight margin and when we stormed into our severe lockdown levels in New Zealand, they realised “time is up”… Travel agencies have all disappeared, possibly some will use WFH but then again “not many travelling some place else”
We have a couple of dedicated f/b pages where people advertise their wares for sale…many of the introductory words relate to “I lost my job via C/19 and I’ve started up xyz from home” Some people appear to be doing well, from this … at this time; due to contactless or “click & collect” delivery.
Auckland, my city tumbled back into L/3 recently with the rest of the country back to L/2…come Sunday 11.59 pm we rise up again and join the rest of the country at L/2 but with somewhat different rules to the previous L/2! There has been no mention of when we will arrive back to L/1…
Catherine de Seton recently posted..Stretching life…
Both our countries seem to be experiencing similar woes Catherine. And I don’t think that anyone can now predict with any accuracy, quite what the new normal will be.
There’s a heated debate in the UK right now about working from home. Many people prefer to work from home – no commuting costs, no lunchtime snack costs, they can keep an eye on the children etc. Many businesses are happy for people to work from home and are downsizing or closing offices. But the government is desperate to get people back into offices to maintain the associated high street businesses like coffee and clothing shops. It’s all getting very fraught.
Yes, fraught it is indeed and none of us know or can predict with any accuracy what the new normal will be like.
My country is doing such a terrible job of reacting to this pandemic. Those in power are actively encouraging people to laugh in the face of the virus and disregard others safety. I am fortunate in being able to work from home. My husband and sons are not so lucky.
My country in general and the state that I live in are doing everything possible to reduce the incidence of the pandemic but, it keeps growing and putting a severe strain on the economy and general lives of our people. Seeing no end to this, all states are easing off on the lockdowns and giving a push for economic activity. In the meanwhile, there are stupid people who do not observe the discipline and land themselves and others in trouble as well.